1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate in general to machine type communication (MTC) gateway user equipment (MGUE) and an MTC data relay method of the same, and more particularly, to MGUE for performing Long Term Evolution (LTE)-based MTC and an MTC data relay method in which the MGUE is employed.
2. Related Art
With the quantum leap of technology, mobile communication systems have become able to provide high-speed data communication services in addition to voice communication services. As a next-generation mobile communication system of Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) mobile communication system that is an existing mobile communication system, standardization of a 3GPP LTE mobile communication system has recently been under way. The LTE system implements high-speed packet-based communication having a maximum transmission rate of about 300 Mbps, which is higher than a currently provided data transmission rate.
Meanwhile, there is a recent trend toward providing machine-to-machine (M2M)/MTC technology, which can be used in vehicle telematics, the administration of physical distribution, smart metering systems, remote asset management systems, point of sale (POS) systems and security-related fields, through LTE systems. Compared with existing cellular phones that are being used in mobile communication systems, M2M/MTC devices have low mobility and transmit/receive low-speed data. In general, an MTC system is implemented by a plurality of MTC devices (e.g., as in the case of a metering system).
Due to these characteristics of MTC, there are too many problems for a mobile communication network, which has been standardized for relatively high-speed data and relatively high mobility of existing cellular phones, to accommodate a plurality of MTC devices.
In addition to a structure in which an MTC device (or user equipment (UE)) currently under standardization through 3GPP technical specification (TS) 22.368 is directly connected to a 3GPP network without a gateway, problems to be solved are as follows:
First, a base station should efficiently accommodate MTC UE with low power consumption and low output. If this is not possible, another method for efficiently accommodating MTC UE with low power consumption and low output should be provided. Also, implementation of an MTC device with low power consumption and low output requires a relatively narrow-band standard, and thus an LTE modem standard for a narrow band (e.g., 1.4 MHz) is needed.
In addition, MTC devices are implemented in different forms according to their application fields, and are vast in number compared with existing general UE. Thus, system complexity increases too much for an LTE network to manage all MTC devices. Furthermore, there are necessities of communication (activation/deactivation, triggering, addressing, and group management), mobility, data conversion, authentication and authorization, encryption, etc. of MTC devices.